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Mythic Legions (Advent of Decay): Vampire Legion Builder by The Four Horsemen

On Monday, T4H put up their remaining stock of Advent of Decay figures, and as usual it was like feeding time at the zoo. The site sputtered, I crossed my fingers and bit my lip, but in the end I got what I was looking for. Granted, I was only after two figures, and both were doubles of ones I already have. And one of those, I’m checking out today! I already have the packages for these in storage and since she’s a Legion Builder, she doesn’t have a bio card, so let’s just jump right in and check out the Vampire Legion Builder!

As far as the figure itself goes, there’s very little here that we haven’t seen before, but that doesn’t make me love this bloodsucking femme-fatale any less. From the neck down, this is the same armored female sculpt we saw on both Gwen Heavensbrand and Lucretia. The sculpt is as gorgeous as ever with all the tiny rivets, overlapping plates, sculpted straps, and chainmail that I love to gush on and on about. Her shoulder armor consists of the less ornate, segmented pieces, which are perfect for rank-and-file soldiers, and as always these are totally optional. And because this is a Legion Builder, there are no additional paint apps on the body, just a glorious coat of slick, high-gloss black. While I’m curious to see how she would look with the chainmail colored in gray or silver, I have to admit the totally black makes for quite a foreboding and sinister look. The ensemble is finished off with the ubiquitous brown sword belt, which can be worn around the waist or over the shoulder.

You get two different heads with this Legion Builder. The first is the unmasked portrait and it’s pretty cool. She has the same ashen skin tone as the other Vampires in the line and the same exaggerated pointed ears, which are similar to the Mythic Legions elves. I like it the head sculpt, but I don’t think it’s some of their best work in the line. Her right eye is bigger than her left, and I’m not sure if she’s supposed to be popping one eye like Deadpool or if it’s just how the sculpt came out. My bet is that it was the later and not intentional. The yellow fangs are also a bit lopsided, when I get in really close. I don’t want to pick on it too badly, but there are definitely some nitpicks to be had here. Her face is framed in a tight fitting black helmet with a magnificent purple plume spilling out the back. The plume is also removable, if you’d rather not have it.

The alternate head is fully enclosed in the helmet, except for the ears. And yes, I’ll admit it seems really impractical to expose your ears, especially when they’re that big, but I think it looks great. If the enclosed helmet looks familiar, it is indeed a straight repaint of the one that was included with the Elf Legion Builder and I’m certainly cool with that. I like to think that these Vampires might be some kind of kin to the Elves in this Universe. Let’s move on to the weapons!

For starters, you get the classic two-handed fantasy-style sword that we’ve seen over and over again in this line. As always, I love the design of this weapon, and it’s nice to see the blade painted silver and the hilt painted black to match the armor. Some Legion Builders don’t have paint applications on their weapons, so this was a nice surprise. She also comes with a circular shield, and while this is not the first time I’m seeing this particular shield, it was the less commonly used shield from the previous lines, which makes it most welcome. This piece is painted all in black and mine has a few scratches on the surface, which is certainly not intentional, but I’m OK with it because it looks like normal wear-and-tear. This shield also features the new hand grip that pegs into the back. The more I play around with these new grips, the more I wish they had kept with the clips.

Next up, Lady Vampire comes with a standard shield spear and boy do I have a lot of these now! It feels like T4H pack this one in with every other figure. Once again, I’m happy to see that T4H splurged on some paint applications, as the shaft is black and the tip is painted silver. It’s definitely one of my favorite examples of this particular weapon and she looks great wielding it.

And that brings us to the final two accessories, these amazingly bad-ass twin swords. These remind me of the sickle-swords often associated with Ancient Assyria and they are absolutely fantastic. The elongated black handles have sculpted grips and those sexy curved blades are kissed with some brilliant silver paint. I’m tempted to give her another belt and strap them both around her shoulders so she can wear these crisscrossed on her back.

Oh yeah, and they can also be tabbed together to create one long double-bladed weapon. Holy shit this is a cool and versatile set of weapons!

This Vampire is just another great example of how much fun these Legion Builders can be and it still amazes me that this is an example of one of the budget figures in the line, originally priced at about $22. And while she may not have the extra bits of flourish painted onto her armor, with a wonderful little arsenal of weapons and two different heads to choose from, there are plenty of display options to be had. And T4H sure know what they’re doing, because I simply had to have a pair of these to pose as bodyguards behind Lady Lucretia or Baron Volligar. l really enjoy the Vampires as a faction in this line and I still have the regular Vampire Knight to open, plus the original Vampire, Carpathias will be on his way once T4H start shipping out the All-Stars Pre-Orders!